This invention relates to an apparatus for regulating the flow of articles supplied to a combinatorial scale of the kind which employs a computer, or a so-called computer scale. In such and apparatus the computer performs a combinatorial arithmetic operation based on weight values of articles measured by a plurality of weighing machines. Each weighing machine is associated with a plurality of article-receiving weighing hoppers and the computer selects a combination of the weighing hoppers that gives a total weight equal or closest to a preset weight and causes the articles to be released from the selected weighing hoppers. More particularly, the invention relates to such apparatus employed in supply feeders conveniently applied to such computer scale.
Supply feeders employed in computer scales are usually manufactured to a fixed size and are not adjustable in width during operation to permit regulation of the amount of article flow. The flow quantity can be controlled only by manually or automatically changing the amplitudes and/or operating time periods of the associated vibratory feeders or the level of supplied articles sensed by level sensors. However, the quantity of the articles supplied to the computer scale usually cannot be finely adjusted as desired, in spite of the complicated adjustment usually required to attempt to affect such a change.